V ■ 


■ SC.  i '■  to 


s. 


HARVEST  TIME 

= AMONG  

FILIPINO  PEASANTS 

By  Reverend  C.  W.  BRIGGS 
Jaro,  Philippine  Islands 


GREAT  ENROLMENT 


3'  N February,  1901,  there  were  presented  to  Mr. 
Lund  three  lists  containing  the  names  of  more 
than  thirteen  thousand  V^isayan  peasants  who 
wished  to  be  enrolled  as  Protestants,  evangelized 
and  baptized.  Had  not  our  young  mission  al- 
ready had  abundant  evidence  that  a mighty  movement  of 
Protestantism  had  started  in  Panay,  we  would  have  been 
conservative  and  incredulous  regarding  this  great  petition ; but 
the  list  was  considered  only  a fair  thermometer  of  the  real 
religious  situation,  and  was  accordingly  sent  to  Boston  with 
a statement  that  the  missionaries  on  the  field  considered  it  a 
genuine  petition  from  simple-minded,  single-purposed  peasants. 


T R 


ED  BY  FIRE 


C.T  he  signers  of  that  petition,  and  the  movement  of  which  it 
was  a consequence,  have  been  tried  by  fire  and  stand  the  test. 
The  mission  was  unfortunate  on  the  score  of  health,  and  one 
missionary  after  another  sailed  away  from  Iloilo,  unftl  it  looked 
as  if  the  Catholic  priests  were  right  in  saying  that  the  Prot- 
estant missionaries  were  only  “birds  of  passage.”  The  peasants 
remained  for  three  years  almost  entirely  unvisited,  unevange- 
lized and  unbaptized.  Petty  persecutions  multiplied  as  the 
Catholic  upper  class  came  into  power  politically,  until'  those 
who  were  known  to  be  Protestants  were  compelled  to  leave 
their  own  towns  and  barrios,  and  organize,  as  best  they  could, 
Protestant  communities  of  their  own,  farther  back  among  the 
mountains.  They  were  boycotted  in  the  markets,  refused  em- 
ployment, made  the  prey  of  a heartless  petty  officialism,  and 
in  every  way  made  to  realize  that  Protestantism  was  to  cost 
them  dearly. 

SCOURGE  OF  CHOLERA 

C.In  August,  1902,  came  a sweeping  scourge  of  cholera,  and  the 
ignorant  masses  all  about  them  charged  this  upon  the  pastors 
and  Filipino  Protestants.  For  months  at  this  critical  time  no 
public  services  could  be  held  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  those 
who  might  be  weak  and  tried  beyond  endurance.  At  just  such 
times,  however,  when  no  other  help  is  available,  and  no  other 
means  may  be  employed,  God  visits  the  people  and  himself 
protects  the  work.  Leave  God  out,  and  the  missionary  en- 


(leaver  is  utterly  hopeless  and  impossible.  Anything  less  than  a 
genuine  movement,  rooted  in  a spiritual  hunger,  would  have 
died  out,  and  its  adherents  have  been  scattered  like  chaff  before 
the  wind. 

AFTER  FOUR  YEARS 

C,Four  years  have  passed  and  these  Protestant  peasants  have, 
for  the  most  part,  remained  loyal  to  the  position  they  took  in 
1901.  When  for  long  months  at  a stretch  no  missionary  vis- 
ited them,  they  sent  delegates  to  the  services  at  Jaro  to  bring 
back  to  them  as  much  of  the  zeal  of  the  gospel  as  possible,  and 
to  restock  them  with  literature.  Twenty,  forty,  even  sixty 
miles  on  foot  have  these  little  groups  of  delegates  been  travel- 
ing back  and  forth  from  Jaro. 

C.Beginning  with  February,  1904,  I toured  continuously,  until 
the  rains  stopped  me  in  June,  up  among  the  barrio  peasants 
from  twenty  to  fifty  miles  north  and  northwest  of  Jaro.  I 
have  had  the  great  privilege  of  baptizing  more  than  l,(XX3 
disciples,  most  of  whom  have  been  Protestants  for  three  or  four 
years,  and  given  abundant  proof  that  the  gospel  meant  much 
to  them,  even  though  their  minds  were  benighted  and  their 
horizon  narrow.  These  tours  were  so  fascinating  that  neither 
the  deacons  and  preachers  who  accompanied  me,  nor  I myself, 
knew  what  it  was  to  be  tired  out.  I have  walked  more  than 
twenty-five  miles  in  a single  day  under  a tropical  sun,  farther 
than  I ever  walked  at  a single  stretch  in  a cooler  climate,  and 
was  none  the  worse  for  the  work.  On  the  last  tour  in  June 
the  rains  overtook  us  far  from  home,  and,  after  w’alting  in  vain 


for  a let-up,  we  waded  back  through  ten  miles  of  the  stickiest 
and  most  slippery’  clay  I ever  saw.  Shoes  became  so  heavy’  that 
walking  with  them  was  impossible,  and  I gave  mine  to  a carrier 
and  came  in  barefooted.  It  requires  heroic  measures  to  meet 
the  situation  here,  and  no  man  could  do  less  with  good  con- 
science. 

“OPPORTUNITY”  THE  WORD 

C.During  these  months  of  touring,  the  work  of  Mr.  Finlay 
and  myself  in  former  years  was  followed  up  and  strengthened, 
and  five  churches  were  regularly  organized.  But  that  which 
impresses  me  most  is  the  revelation  it  has  afforded  to  at  least 
one  missionary’  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  great  word,  “oppor- 
tunity.” I was  able  to  touch  onlj’  the  fringe  of  the  skirts  of 
hundreds  of  barrios  in  which  live  those  who  are  now  Protes- 
tants, and  those  who  will  easily  become  such  if  rightly  influ- 
enced. A wide  expanse  of  standing  grain,  ripe  for  the  harvest, 
is  the  only  adequate  simile  of  the  situation.  The  great  move- 
ment among  the  peasants  in  Panay  that  was  reported  in  1901 
is  now  *a  greater  and  more  significant  reality  than  it  was  then. 
The  only  reason  why  we  have  not  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  bap- 
tized believers  in  that  district  to-day  is  that  our  forces  here 
have  never  been  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  reach  the  people  and 
baptize  them,  and  arrange  for  their  further  instruction. 


4623  Ed.  lliM. -1(1-05. 


LITERATURE  DEPARTMENT 
AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONARY  UNION 
BOX  41,  BOSTON.  MASS. 


